Driving circuit, driving method and display device

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a driving circuit for driving a display panel, comprising: a timing controller for providing a start pulse signal and a selection signal; a driving module comprising a plurality of cascaded driver units and configured to control a part of the driver units to receive the start pulse signal according to the selection signal and generate a grayscale voltage according to the start pulse signal and the data signal. In the driving circuit according to the present disclosure, the driving module selects a part of the driver units to receive the start pulse signal according to the selection signal, so that the resolution of the display panel can be arbitrarily changed without exceeding an intrinsic physical resolution, thus reducing research and development cost and cumbersome processes for customization, and speeding up shipment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent ApplicationNo. 202010705189.X, filed on Jul. 21, 2020, and entitled “DRIVE CIRCUIT,DRIVE METHOD AND DISPLAY DEVICE”, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to a technical field of liquid crystaldisplay, in particular to a driving circuit, a driving method and adisplay device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

In a liquid crystal display (LCD) device in the prior art, a structureof a display panel generally includes a plurality of pixel structures,each pixel structure includes sub-pixel structures corresponding tothree-primary colors (red, green and blue, i.e., RGB), respectively, andgrayscale adjustment of each pixel structure as a whole is realized byperform color adjustment on the sub-pixel structures, thereby realizingcolor image display.

With the development of display technology, display resolution ofdisplay panels is becoming more and more important. However, dependingon different applications of display panels, required resolutions may bedifferent. According to different requirements from customers, who needa panel, for the resolution of a LCD device, chip design companies needto customize corresponding panel driver chips according to the differentresolution requirements, thus increasing design time, production timeand start-up cost.

SUMMARY

In view of the above problems, an objective of the present disclosure isto provide a driving circuit, a driving method and a display device,wherein decoders are added to a plurality of driver units, and accordingto a selection signal, a part of the plurality of driver units arecontrolled to receive a start pulse signal, so that under a conditionwith a certain physical resolution, a resolution during display can bechanged without exceeding the physical resolution, thus reducingresearch and development cost and cumbersome processes forcustomization, and speeding up shipment of products.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a driving circuitfor driving a display panel is provided and includes: a timingcontroller, configured to provide a start pulse signal and a selectionsignal; a driving module, which comprises a plurality of driver unitsthat are cascaded, and is configured to control a part of the pluralityof driver units to receive the start pulse signal according to theselection signal and generate a grayscale voltage according to the startpulse signal and a data signal.

In some embodiments, the part of the plurality of driver units toreceive the start pulse signal comprise adjacent driver units.

In some embodiments, the plurality of driver units each comprise: adecoder, connected with the timing controller for receiving theselection signal and the start pulse signal; a shift register, connectedwith the decoder and used for receiving and transmitting the start pulsesignal; a latch, coupled to the shift register and a data bus, andconfigured to obtain the data signal from the data bus according to thestart pulse signal; an operational amplifier, connected to the latch andthe display panel, and configured to generate the grayscale voltageaccording to the data signal and apply the grayscale voltage to thedisplay panel.

In some embodiments, the decoders in the plurality of driver units aresequentially connected, and one of the decoders in the plurality ofdriver units that is arranged at a starting position is configured toreceive and transmit the selection signal.

In some embodiments, any one of the decoders in the plurality of driverunits is configured to apply, according to the selection signal, thestart pulse signal to a corresponding one of the shift registers in theplurality of driver units that is connected to that one of the decodersin the plurality of driver units.

In some embodiments, the shift registers in the plurality of driverunits are sequentially connected, and the start pulse signal isunidirectionally transmitted among the shift registers in the pluralityof driver units sequentially.

In some embodiments, the decoders in the plurality of driver units areconfigured to control the start pulse signal to be transferred among theshift registers in the plurality of driver units according to theselection signal.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a driving methodof a display device is provided. The display device includes a displaypanel, a driving module including a plurality of driver units that arecascaded, and a timing controller. The driving method includes: applyinga selection signal and a start pulse signal to the driving module viathe timing controller; controlling, according to the selection signal, apart of the plurality of driver units to receive the start pulse signal;and generating a grayscale voltage according to the start pulse signaland a data signal.

In some embodiments, the start pulse signal is unidirectionallytransmitted among the plurality of driver units which are cascaded.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a display deviceis provided and includes a driving circuit as described in embodimentsof the present disclosure.

In the driving circuit provided according to the present disclosure,decoders are added to the plurality of driver units, and according tothe selection signal, a part of the plurality of driver units arecontrolled to receive the start pulse signal, so that under a conditionwith a certain physical resolution, the resolution during display can bechanged without exceeding the physical resolution, thus reducingresearch and development cost and the cumbersome processes forcustomization, and speeding up shipment of products.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become more apparent from descriptions of embodiments ofthe present disclosure with reference to the following accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a structural schematic diagram of a display deviceaccording to the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows a structural schematic diagram of a driving circuit in thedisplay device according to the prior art;

FIG. 3 shows a structural schematic diagram of a display deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE DISCLOSURE

Various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in moredetail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Throughout thevarious figures, like elements are denoted by the same or similarreference symbols. For the sake of clarity, various parts in thedrawings are not drawn to scale.

With reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments, specificimplementations of the present disclosure are described in furtherdetail below.

FIG. 1 shows a structural schematic diagram of a display deviceaccording to the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a display device 100 includes a display panel 130,a driving module 120 and a timing controller 110. The display panel 130includes an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns, the drivingmodule 120 includes a gate driving circuit and/or a source drivingcircuit. In this embodiment, the driving module is, for example, thesource driving circuit, and the timing controller 110 is, for example,configured to control the gate driving circuit and the source drivingcircuit.

In the display panel 130, a plurality of gate lines GL and a pluralityof data lines DL are provided, and a plurality of sub-pixels arearranged in intersection areas between the plurality of gate lines GLand the plurality of data lines DL. For example, if the display panelhas a resolution of 1080 RGB in a width direction, each pixel in thearray has sub-pixels corresponding to three colors of red, green andblue (RGB), respectively, so that 3240 corresponding driving lines arerequired, that is, the driving circuit 120 needs 3240 driver units todrive the display panel, which has a resolution of 1080 RGB.

FIG. 2 shows a structural schematic diagram of a driving circuit in thedisplay device according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 2 , thedriving module 120 includes a plurality of driver units 121 which arecascaded, each of the plurality of driver units includes a shiftregister SR, a latch LH, and an operational amplifier OP connectedsequentially, wherein the shift registers SR of the plurality of driverunits 121 are sequentially connected for receiving and transmitting astart pulse signal STP, and the latches LH of the plurality of driverunits 121 are sequentially connected for being coupled to a data bus(Data Bus), so as to receive a data signal.

In this embodiment, the timing controller 110 is configured to generatethe start pulse signal STP, the shift register SR of the first driverunit 121 (S1) of the plurality of driver units 121 receives the startpulse signal STP, and unidirectionally transfers the start pulse signalSTP to the shift registers SR of other driver units 121 in sequence. Thelatch LH connected to the shift register SR receives the data signalfrom the data bus (Data Bus) under control of the start pulse signalSTP, then, the data signal can be amplified through the operationalamplifier OP connected to that latch LH and then can be sent to acorresponding pixel in the display panel, so as to drive the displaypanel.

However, the start pulse signal STP can only be sent to the shiftregister SR of the first driver unit 121 (S1) of the plurality of driverunits 121, and then transmitted from the first driver unit 121 (S1) ofthe plurality of driver units 121 to other driver units 121 sequentiallyin a single direction, thus when the display device is required toprovide another resolution, the driving module 120 needs to bere-customized and the number of the plurality of driver units 121 needsto be changed, in order to change the resolution of the display device.

FIG. 3 shows a structural diagram of a display device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 3 , a displaydevice 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includesa display panel 130, a driving module 220 connected to the display panel130 and a timing controller 210 connected to the driving module 220. Thedriving module 220 includes a plurality of driver units 221 which areconnected to a plurality of driving lines (e.g., gate lines or sourcelines) of the display panel 130 in one-to-one correspondence, and inthis embodiment, the driving module 220 is, for example, a sourcedriving circuit.

The timing controller 210 is used to generate a start pulse signal STPand a selection signal SEL. The start pulse signal STP is used tocontrol the driving module 220 to acquire a data signal from the databus (Data Bus). The selection signal SEL is used to control a part ofthe plurality of driver units 221 to receive the start pulse signal STP.

Each driver unit 221 in the driving module 220 includes a decoder DEC, ashift register SR, a latch LH and an operational amplifier OP which aresequentially connected. Each driver unit 221 is connected to the timingcontroller 210.

In this embodiment, the decoders DEC of the plurality of driver units221 are sequentially connected for receiving the start pulse signal STPand the selection signal SEL, the shift registers SR of the plurality ofdriver units 221 are sequentially connected and each of the shiftregisters SR of the plurality of driver units 221 is configured toreceive and unidirectionally transmit the start pulse signal STP outputby the decoder DEC which is connected to that shift register SR, and thelatches LH of the plurality of driver units 221 are sequentiallyconnected for being coupled to the data bus (Data Bus), so as to receivethe data signal.

In this embodiment, the decoders DEC of the plurality of driver units221 are configured to select one of the plurality of driver units 221 toreceive the start pulse signal STP in accordance with the selectionsignal SEL, at the same time, the decoders DEC of the plurality ofdriver units are also configured to control the start pulse signal STPto be transmitted among the plurality of driver units 221 in accordancewith the selection signal SEL, thereby controlling a part of theplurality of driver units 221 to receive the start pulse signal STP. Thepart of the plurality of driver units 221 to receive the start pulsesignal STP are adjacent driver units, the start pulse signal STP for thefirst one of the plurality of driver units 221 is provided from thetiming controller 210, the start pulse signal STP for each of otherdriver units 221 is provided from a previous one of the plurality ofdriver units 221 that is cascaded with that driver unit, and the startpulse signal STP is unidirectionally transmitted among the plurality ofdriver units 221.

In this embodiment, the timing controller 210 is configured to generatethe start pulse signal STP and the selection signal SEL, the decodersDEC of the plurality of driver units 221 are all connected to the timingcontroller 210 for receiving the start pulse signal STP, and the decoderDEC of the first driver unit 221 (S1) of the plurality of driver units221 is further configured to receive the selection signal SEL.

In this embodiment, the driving module 220 is configured to control apart of the plurality of driver units 221 to receive the start pulsesignal STP according to the selection signal, and generate a grayscalevoltage according to the start pulse signal STP and the data signal, soas to drive the display panel 130. Specifically, under control of theselection signal SEL, the start pulse signal STP can be transmitted, bythe decoder DEC of any one of the plurality of driver units 221, to theshift register SR connected to that decoder DEC, thereby, the startpulse signal STP can start to be unidirectionally transmitted among theshift registers SR in sequence, meanwhile, the latch LH connected to theshift register SR that has received the start pulse signal STP canobtain the data signal from the data bus (Data Bus) at a time when thestart pulse signal STP is applied, then the data signal can be amplifiedby the operational amplifier OP to obtain a grayscale voltage fordriving the display panel 130, and the grayscale voltage is then send toa corresponding pixel in the display panel 130 through a correspondingdata line, so as to drive the display panel 130.

In this embodiment, due to the selection signal SEL and the decodersDEC, the start pulse signal STP can start to be transmitted from any oneof the shift registers SR of the plurality of driver units 221. Forexample, if the display panel 130 has a resolution of 1080 RGB in awidth direction, the driving module 220 is required to provide 3240driver units 221 for normally driving the display panel 130; if theresolution required by customers does not exceed 1080 RGB, for example,when the resolution is required to be 828 RGB, 2484 driver units 221 areneeded. Corresponding to the display panel 130, the 2484 driver units221 can be, for example, the driver unit 221 (S379) to the driver unit221 (S2862), or the driver unit 221 (S757) to the driver unit 221(S3240); the driver unit 221 (S379) or the driver unit 221 (S757) can beselected to receive the start pulse signal STP by use of the selectionsignal SEL and the corresponding decoder DEC, so that the shift registerSR corresponding to the driver unit 221 (S379) or the driver unit 221(S757) can be the first shift register to receive the start pulse signalSTP and transmit the start pulse signal STP unidirectionally to othershift registers, thereby the resolution can be changed.

In the driving method of the display panel according to embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the shift register SR of one of the plurality ofdriver units is selected to be the first shift register to receive thestart pulse signal STP in accordance with the selection signal, so thatthe resolution of the display panel can be arbitrarily changed withoutexceeding an intrinsic physical resolution, thereby reducing researchand development cost and the cumbersome processes for customization, andspeeding up shipment of products.

The embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure, as describedabove, are not exhaustively described in all detail nor limited to thespecific embodiments described. Obviously, many modifications andvariations are possible in light of the foregoing description. Theseembodiments are selected and described in detail in the specification inorder to better explain the principles and practical applications of thepresent disclosure, so that those skilled in the art can take fulladvantage of the present disclosure and modifications based on thepresent disclosure. The invention is limited only by the claims andtheir full scope and equivalents.

1. A driving circuit for driving a display panel, wherein the drivingcircuit comprises: a timing controller, configured to providing a startpulse signal and a selection signal; a driving module, which comprises aplurality of driver units that are cascaded, and is configured tocontrol a part of the plurality of driver units to receive the startpulse signal according to the selection signal and generate a gray scalevoltage according to the start pulse signal and a data signal.
 2. Thedriving circuit according to claim 1, wherein the part of the pluralityof driver units to receive the start pulse signal comprise adjacentdriver units.
 3. The driving circuit according to claim 1, wherein theplurality of driver units each comprise: a decoder, connected with thetiming controller for receiving the selection signal and the start pulsesignal; a shift register, connected with the decoder and configured toreceive and transmit the start pulse signal; a latch, coupled to theshift register and a data bus, and configured to obtain the data signalfrom the data bus according to the start pulse signal; an operationalamplifier, connected to the latch and the display panel, and configuredto generate the grayscale voltage according to the data signal and applythe grayscale voltage to the display panel.
 4. The driving circuitaccording to claim 3, wherein the decoders in the plurality of driverunits are sequentially connected, and one of the decoders in theplurality of driver units that is arranged at a starting position isconfigured to receive and transmit the selection signal.
 5. The drivingcircuit according to claim 4, wherein any one of the decoders in theplurality of driver units is configured to apply, according to theselection signal, the start pulse signal to a corresponding one of theshift registers in the plurality of driver units that is connected tothat one of the decoders in the plurality of driver units.
 6. Thedriving circuit according to claim 5, wherein the shift registers in theplurality of driver units are sequentially connected, and the startpulse signal is unidirectionally transmitted among the shift registersin the plurality of driver units sequentially.
 7. The driving circuitaccording to claim 6, wherein the decoders in the plurality of driverunits are configured to control the start pulse signal to be transferredamong the shift registers in the plurality of driver units according tothe selection signal.
 8. A driving method of a display device, whichcomprises a display panel, a driving module comprising a plurality ofdriver units that are cascaded, and a timing controller, wherein thedriving method comprises: applying a selection signal and a start pulsesignal to the driving module via the timing controller; controlling,according to the selection signal, a part of the plurality of driverunits to receive the start pulse signal, and generating a grayscalevoltage according to the start pulse signal and a data signal.
 9. Thedriving method according to claim 8, wherein the start pulse signal isunidirectionally transmitted among the plurality of driver units whichare cascaded.
 10. A display device comprising the drive circuitaccording to claim 1.